


Flying Away

by Revasnaslan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Background Thace/Ulaz, Limb loss, M/M, Moderate Violence, Mutual Pining, Near Death Experiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-12 23:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15351219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revasnaslan/pseuds/Revasnaslan
Summary: When he was younger, Keith wasn't able to understand why he couldn't see in color. It was just something inherent to him. So, after finding out that Galra are colorblind until they meet their soulmate, it makes sense... and just in time for him to meet his.—Written as part of the 2017-2018Keith Mini Bang.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here is my second fic for the Keith Mini Bang! :D I decided to go with a soulmate au for this one, because I have never written one before, I don't think... but I kind of played around with it a bit, especially with their reactions to finding out they're soulmates.
> 
> **BETA:** Vox | [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/voxiferous) | [Ao3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akumeoi/pseuds/Akumeoi)  
>  **ARTIST:** Arka | [Tumblr](https://xblackpaladin.tumblr.com/) | [LINK TO ART](https://xblackpaladin.tumblr.com/post/176067128135/flying-away-read-the-fic-here-keith-held-out)

The landing bay was bustling as members of the Coalition milled around, carrying out their assigned tasks—Keith watched from afar with the slightest amount of interest, trying to keep his posture in check and mirror the Blades standing on either side of him. Kolivan stood to his left, and Thace to his right. They had received a transmission that Ulaz’s shuttle was only a couple of clicks out and would be arriving within the varga. Keith had just been waking up when they had received word, so he had quickly put on his Blade armor and mask and hurried to meet up with Thace.

Now, they were playing the waiting game, staying on the periphery of the landing band and avoiding getting in the way.

Thace’s toe claws were tapping against the ground anxiously, clicking softly every other tick or so. Keith had never seen a Galra do that before he had been around the Blade—and Thace, in particular—for a while, but it seemed to be universal thing, similar to humans drumming their fingers against surfaces. A bored or nervous tic, one that Thace didn’t even seem to be aware that he was doing.

Kolivan let out an irritated sigh. “Thace,” he said sharply, voice augmented by his mask. “Settle down.”

Thace straightened his posture again and rested his hands at the small of his back. If Keith could have seen his face, Thace’s fur would’ve been fluffed up in embarrassment and his ears likely pinned back. “Of course, sir.”

Keith remained silent, but quickly adjusted his own posture and mimicked them.

Keith had been aiding the Blade of Marmora’s efforts to gather information over the past couple of months, as the search for Lotor was going so slowly it had almost reached a stand still. In the months following his joining of the Blade of Marmora on a more regular basis, Keith had found himself something of a niche. He was a trainee, and young Blade who had only just passed his Trial—he needed to prove himself out in the field before he’d be allowed to go on any kind of solo missions. For now, he was being kept under the watchful eye of Thace, who had been assigned to properly train him how to use his blade, as Keith, unlike other Blades, had not learnt how to use his blade before undergoing the Trial. It worked out for Keith, as he liked Thace, who was one of the nicest members of the organization, as well as a patient and good teacher. Ulaz helped out too, sometimes, when it suited him and he wasn’t busy with taking care of injured members of the Coalition.

While the war effort had been improving, Kolivan had stated several weeks ago that he wanted to bring in new Blades to help with the efforts on Olkarion. Ulaz had been sent to retrieve them, and Keith had eagerly offered to go along with him. When Kolivan had told him no, Keith had quipped that he thought that Blades always traveled in pairs. While he had been tempted to sneak off and join Ulaz on his mission, he knew that both Kolivan and Thace would have been frantic if he had disappeared without warning them.

Over the tops of the nearby hangar roofs, Keith could see some of the trees blowing in the breeze. He often idly wondered what colors they might be turning—he remembered some of his classmates talking about how the leaves would change color with the seasons, back on Earth. However, Keith had only ever been able to see black, white, and the shades of gray in between. Before leaving Earth, he hadn’t known why, and assumed there was something wrong with his eyes. But apparently it was because he was Galra. Kolivan had explained that once you met your ‘soulmate’—which was the roughest translation he could think of for the word in Galran—that color would flood back into your vision… and should they die, it would just as rapidly recede.

Before Ulaz had left, he had said that the leaves of Olkarion would change from their normal red to a deeper purple hue whenever a cold front was moving through. Evidently, the Olkari took this as a sign that great changes were coming.

“Thace,” Keith whispered, nudging him lightly in the side so that Thace inclined his head to hear Keith better. “What color are the leaves?”

“They’re in the middle of changing, it looks like, so I expect it’ll be chilly in a couple of quintants,” Thace said, and as he continued speaking, his voice took on a dry undertone. “Ulaz is going to complain… he  _ hates _ the cold.”

Keith glanced up at the sky, trying to pick out the gray shuttle against an absurdly light background. He could see a couple of clouds drifting across the sky, but there was no shuttle to be seen from where they were standing. Thace’s toe claws began clicking again.

“They’re late,” Kolivan commented.

“Who’s coming back with Ulaz?” Keith asked, as he had never been told. He was  _ very _ curious, though. It wasn’t every quintant that new Blades were pulled from outlying bases and brought to the front, or so Keith had been told. But for a long time, the Blade of Marmora had been keeping a low profile and trying to stay out of sight. Now that they were backing up Voltron, it seemed they were more liable to come out of hiding and move their troops around the Empire.

“The Bladesmith Apprentice, for one,” Kolivan responded. “Our Bladesmith believes that Myrek needs some time off from  the main base, so I offered to keep an eye on him for her.”

Keith had never formally met Bladesmith Evren, but he had heard about her from Kolivan. Under normal circumstances, she would have trained him until he was ready for his Trial, but his situation being what it was, he hadn’t been able to work with her.  He hadn’t known that she had an apprentice either.

“Isn’t Roshar coming as well?” Thace asked, before Keith could ask anything else.

Kolivan nodded. “And his son. This is one of Regris’s first field assignments.”

“Regris is a sweet kid,” Thace said, likely as a reassurance for Keith, since Keith had made it abundantly clear that people weren’t exactly his forte and meeting new ones made him nervous. But Thace was usually a pretty good judge of character. “I’m sure you and he will get along, Keith.”

“If all goes well, Regris is going to be Keith’s partner in the field,” Kolivan added.

“What?” Both Thace and Keith spoke at the same time—where Keith was more surprised, Thace sounded incredulous.

“They don’t even know each other,” Thace continued, turning his gaze onto Kolivan, likely frowning beneath his mask. “Ulaz and I had to train together for  _ years _ before you even considered assigning us to be partners.”

Kolivan’s stance did not falter, and he continued staring straight ahead. “Regris’s sister is in the Archives, Beyrklis works in Communications, and Taliran and Kurok are already paired with each other—” Keith assumed that those were the other members of Regris’s initiate class. “—there is nobody else who he can be partnered with,” Kolivan continued, voice still level. “Besides, Regris can teach Keith a thing or two about managing his impulsiveness.”

“Really?” Thace asked, not sounding terribly impressed. “You expect  _ Regris _ to teach Keith how to not be impulsive?”

If Keith hadn’t been nervous about meeting these new Blades before, he definitely was now. He had assumed that he and Regris would only need to speak to each other once in a blue moon, that they wouldn’t have to interact much outside of that.

But if he and Regris were supposed to be working together—to achieve  _ missions _ together?

“Keith?” Thace’s voice dragged him out of his thoughts, and Keith felt Thace running his hand over the top of his head, roughly where a crest would have been.

“I’m… fine,” Keith insisted, turning his head to look at Thace. Even though they couldn’t see each other’s faces, Thace tilted his head to the side, and Keith could clearly envision Thace’s concerned expression. It would have matched the slight shift of his hood as his ears pinned back beneath it.

“Like I said, Regris is a sweet kid,” Thace repeated. “The Green Paladin reminds me of him, and you get along with her, right?”

Keith nodded, even though nervousness continued to gnaw at his gut, and it was difficult to ignore the feeling when he noticed that a shuttle was arriving—Ulaz’s shuttle. Keith could see it coming over the tops of buildings and heading straight for the landing bay, over the heads of the far off Olkarians. As if noticing his unease, Thace reached out and gently put a hand on his shoulder, giving it a firm, comforting squeeze.

When the doors to the shuttle opened with a soft  _ whoosh _ , Ulaz appeared, datapad held in hand as if he were going over a manifest. Thace was off in a tick, nearly bowling Ulaz over as he threw his arms around Ulaz’s shoulders. Ulaz nearly dropped his datapad as he spun Thace around. They almost knocked over another Blade who was emerging and he yelped in surprise, quickly taking a step to the side to avoid running into them.

“That’s Myrek,” Kolivan said, voice low as he ducked his head to make sure Keith could hear him. “He’s been training for years to be a Bladesmith…” And then, when Keith tilted his head to the side in confusion, Kolivan added, “Essentially, they guard and care for the blades that are not in use, as well as train future Blades.”

Keith watched as two more Blades exited the shuttle—one was around Thace’s height, while the other was a touch smaller than Kolivan, and had a tail sweeping along behind him. Keith only caught sight of it for a flash before it disappeared behind the Blade again.

“Sir,” the shorter of the two Blades said, saluting by bringing a fist to his chest. 

As he did so, Keith noticed a bond necklace hanging over his chest plate. It was a fang that looked to be about as long as Keith’s hand—he could only begin to guess what kind of creature the fang had come from, but it must have been  _ massive _ . He almost wanted to ask, but the smaller Blade glanced at the taller one and spoke before he could. 

“Regris is very excited to be here… aren’t you, kitling?” he asked.

“Yes, Papa,” Regris said mutely.

“Is this Keith?” Myrek asked as he came to stand beside Roshar and Regris. While he was clearly trying to remain composed and professional, he was more than a little nervous to be on Olkarion, judging by the set of his ears. “I do not believe we’ve been formally introduced. I am Apprentice Myrek.”

“Kolivan mentioned you,” Keith said, holding out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Myrek agreed, gripping Keith’s forearm in the standard Galra greeting between acquaintances. “Now, if you’ll excuse me and the Commander?”

Without further preamble, Myrek and Kolivan turned and headed off towards one of the other bays, where the Blade had set up their own sleeping quarters to keep from imposing on the Olkaris’ hospitality. Keith was left with Roshar and Regris—and a nervous glance behind them showed that Thace and Ulaz were too busy talking to one another to come back over here. He took a deep breath, and tried to calm his nerves.

Roshar’s mask disappeared, and he smiled warmly. “Hello, Keith,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thace has mentioned you in his transmissions.” Then, he lightly nudged his son, who hadn’t dropped his mask yet. “Regris, be polite and say hello.”

“Hi,” Regris said, seeming a little nervous—or perhaps embarrassed. “Papa, don’t you have to go speak with Kolivan about something?”

Roshar sighed, ears twitching in irritation beneath his hood. “Alright, I’ll stop hovering,” he said. “But once you’re done talking to Keith, come and find me. I want to go and look at the forests.”

“Yes, Papa,” Regris said, sounding amused. His tail tip twitched back and forth, briefly flicking into view.

Keith held out his hand. “Um… I’m Keith,” he said, allowing his mask to disappear, because it seemed like the polite thing to do. However, Regris still did not do the same. Perhaps he was just shy. Keith certainly wasn’t going to fault him for it. When Regris did reach out and grip his forearm in a customary greeting, however, Keith found his unease melting away, shoulders relaxing, as a soft sigh of relief escaped him. When Regris pulled his hand away, nervousness crept back, but it was no longer threatening to claw its way free.

This was going better than Keith had initially thought it would. Reassured that perhaps he and Regris would become fast friends, he opened his mouth to speak. However, before he could, was distracted by the sound of Regris’s tail brushing against the stone  “You have a tail,” he said awkwardly. “Are those spikes?”

Regris flexed his tail, bringing it back into view so that Keith could see the three, blunted spikes towards the end of it. “Mm,” he hummed. “They don’t do anything. Papa says they’re a mark of age amongst my bloodfather’s people.”

“Oh,” Keith said, trying to stop himself from wringing his hands together. “That’s cool.”

“Thanks,” Regris said as he hid his tail behind himself again. “Um… Bladesmith Evren said you were half-Galra?” He sounded almost hopeful, and there was the slightest perk of his ears beneath his hood.

“I am,” Keith said, nodding. “Half-human.”

Regris tilted his head to the side. “What is a  _ hoo-man _ ?”

“Oh uh… what did Thace call us…” Keith trailed off, trying to wrack his brain for the term that Thace had used. “Terrans!”

Regris let out a soft hum as his tail tip flicked back and forth in interest. “I have read about your people in the Archives!” he said. “There wasn’t much, but… you are smaller than I expected.”

Keith managed a smile. “I get that a lot.”

There was a soft beep from the com system in Regris’s mask, and he sighed. “Well, I should probably go and unpack my things,” he said. “And then meet up with my father.”

“You should go to the northern edge of the city,” Keith said, still smiling. “That’s where Thace and I go for walks sometimes. The trees are beautiful.”

Regris let out a hissing purr of amusement. “Thank you for the suggestion,” he said. “I’ll see you around.”

As Regris left, Keith turned his attention back to Thace and Ulaz, who were still talking over by the shuttle’s ramp. Ulaz appeared to be holding a tin with something in it—most likely a sweet of some kind. Thace was eating a tart, while Ulaz watched with a fond head tilt.

“You’re sure you don’t want one, Laz?” Thace asked.

“No, I made them for you,” Ulaz insisted.

“Hey, Ulaz,” Keith greeted him, smiling when Ulaz reached out to lightly ruffle his hair. As he eyed the tin, he found that there were indeed tarts inside of it, small ones, perhaps the size of his palm. There was also a faint sweet and fruity aroma. “Can I have one?” he asked hopefully, taking one when Ulaz nodded.

“So, how did it go?” Thace asked. “Did you and Regris get along?”

Keith shrugged, taking a bite out of the tart, which was filled with something overly sweet, tasting similar to peaches. However, the filling itself was a deep purple that reminded Keith more of grape jelly in coloration. “He seemed a little shy,” Keith said through a mouthful of tart.

“It’s the first time he’s been so far away from his sister,” Thace said. “Give him a little bit of time to adjust and he’ll be more open, I think.”

Keith nodded in understanding, and continued nibbling on the tart without saying anything else.

“Now,” Thace said, walking past Keith and motioning for him to follow. “Your form could still use some work. There’s just the slightest hesitation of your left foot.”

Keith glanced at Ulaz once, only to be shooed off, and he turned and followed after Thace without another word. The fact that he and Regris were going to be expected to work together on dangerous missions lingered in the back of his mind, but he pushed those thought back. He would try talking to Regris later, like Thace had suggested. Maybe before their first mission together, they’d be somewhat friends.

—

The first mission went…  _ relatively _ smoothly. Keith considered it a victory in and of itself that they had gotten out without any injuries. If Regris hadn’t pushed his luck and tried to get as much information as possible—insisting he only needed a few more ticks—perhaps they wouldn’t have needed to make a break for it to get out of there.

However, following the mission, Keith found that it was much easier to be around Regris and talk to him. Where there had been awkwardness before, now there was growing understanding and ease. Keith found that he liked being in Regris’s presence a lot. Now, they frequently trained together, and sometimes took walks out in the forest to climb the trees afterward. And whenever Keith had to go on missions with the Paladins, he found that he missed Regris a lot. As the Black Paladin, Keith had an obligation to be the leader of the team, no matter how much he didn’t like it. But recently, his duties to the Blade were forcing him to choose—and he had more frequently been choosing the Blade. While he had tried to talk to Shiro about retaking the position of Black Paladin, Shiro had refused to do so.

In order to distract himself from the rising tensions with Shiro, Keith had begun to seek out Regris’s company more frequently during their downtime. While he knew he could speak with the other Paladins—or perhaps Coran—he found it easier to speak to Regris, since he was more impartial, as he hadn’t been around to see Keith’s original ascent into being leader of Voltron. Besides, Regris listened regardless of what he said, only offering input when he felt it was warranted. When Keith asked him why he did that, Regris mentioned that was how he helped his sister before she had gone into archival work and he had gone into field missions.

The other paladins had slowly begun to notice how Keith had been hanging around the Blades following missions more and more frequently—they seemed to have come to expect it. Regris had also begun greeting them when they back at the Coalition’s base. Well, mostly greeting Keith, and sometimes Pidge. Keith hadn’t been surprised to find out that Pidge and Regris had developed their own little friendship, since their interests aligned very nicely.

One day, when Keith wandered into the supply hanger in search of Regris, he found Pidge trailing along after Regris as he performed some rounds, checking on supplies. They were heading in the opposite direction to the entrance, and while Regris seemed more focused on the datapad he held in his hand, he was occasionally turning his head to offer commentary on whatever Pidge was saying. His hood was shifting with the movement of his ears, too…

That was odd in and of itself, as Keith couldn’t remember Regris having his mask in any setting other than the one for space travel, which covered the entire head and left ears and their movements hidden from view. While planetside, most Blade preferred the standard setting, which covered the face, but left the movements of their ears visible.

“Hey, Keith!” Pidge said, waving when she noticed him.

Regris’s tail gave a flick before he turned his head to look over his shoulder. Keith was surprised to find that Regris was no longer wearing his mask—it was the first time that he had seen Regris without his mask on. He had a very snake-like appearance, with a relatively flat face. Unlike most Galra, who had solid colored eyes Regris had slit pupils. While to Keith, Regris’s eyes appeared gray, he did wonder if they actually had yellow sclera, like he had heard Ulaz describing some hybrids had. After a tick, a long, thin tongue flicked out of his mouth as he must have scented the air. This explained why his purring and laughing had always had a hissing undertone to it. And then, Keith noticed the glasses that were perched on what could pass for a nose bridge on Regris’s face. The glasses were smaller than Pidge’s, with rectangular frames. For a moment, Keith stood there, blanking on what he had been intending to say.

“Well, I should probably go,” Pidge said, lightly nudging Regris’s arm—and he responded in kind, lightly flicking his tail against her arm. “See you later Regris!” And then, as she passed Keith, she added, “See you later, too.”

Keith didn’t speak immediately, trying to think of what to say—he hadn’t been expecting to see Regris’s face when he had come down here. “You wear glasses?” he managed, hoping he hadn’t stuttered.

Beneath his hood, Regris’s ears flicked as he reached out to fiddle with his glasses, although it didn’t seem to be out of nervousness. “Yes,” he said simply, peering at the datapad he held in his hands as if it were difficult for him to read. “My prescription is more up to date in my mask, though…”

As Keith approached Regris, he continued looking him over. Regris’s skin was a medium shade of—well, to Keith it just looked  _ gray _ , and he couldn’t tell what the actual color was. He  _ did _ know that Galra were often purple, from what he had been told. There were some facial markings along the sides of his mouth and down his forehead that framed his face, as well as mottling across his cheeks, as if he had freckles. On either side of his nose were two small pits, similar to those of a pit viper back on Earth.

“I don’t normally bring them, but since this is a more permanent posting…” Regris continued, and as he was speaking, Keith caught a glimpse of several inch long fangs set back against the roof of his mouth, along with teeth that were sharp as any Galra’s.

Then, Regris’s ears perked as his eyes widened in curiosity. “Pidge wears them,” he said, and his tail tip gave an excited flick. “Is she half-Lachesis too?”

“La… Lachesis?” Keith repeated slowly, trying to make sure he got the pronunciation correct.

Regris hummed, turning away to look in the crate he was standing beside. “My father—Roshar, you remember him, right? He tells me that’s what my other dad was. Got my shit eyesight from him or something.”

Keith snorted. “Did you?”

“Yeah, because  _ apparently _ , all Lachesis have shit eyesight,” Regris said, snorting as he grinned. “They make up for it with their heat sensing capabilities.”

“Do you have those?” Keith asked.

Regris’s ears twitched and pinned back in irritation. “They’re crap, but I have them,” he said, using his tail to shift the contents of the box to the side as he counted them. “I’m also mildly venomous. Bit Thace once when I was a kid, left him woozy and stumbling like when he’s had too much polan wine.”

Keith couldn’t contain his snickering. “That’s really cool,” he said, continuing to watch as Regris made a couple more notes on his datapad. “Um—can you take a break?” he suggested, tilting his head to the side.

Regris hummed, stepping away from the box. “Alright, but just a short one.”

Keith led him over to some crates that were closer to the bay doors leading outside where they could sit while they talked. Members of the Coalition flitted around outside, chattering amongst themselves and paying no mind to the young Blades sitting neatby in silence. Since Keith didn’t really know what to say, but he watched Regris.

Regris seemed to like the sky.

Keith didn’t know why. Feeling that it might have had to do with something personal, he decided not to ask about it. Not that Regris had even told him off for asking questions.

“My sister and I were raised on an outlying base before we were moved to the main base,” Regris said, watching the clouds roll by. A breeze rippled through the cargo bay, causing Regris’s hood to flap. “Papa would tell us stories about the Lions… and when I was practicing flying in the simulators, I liked to imagine I was a Paladin of Voltron…” Then, he motioned with the tip of his tail to the other side of the hanger. Black sat there, awaiting the next mission.

Regris grinned. “I’d wager the lions are a  _ little _ different from fighters, though.”

Keith found it hard to not smile back. “More than a little bit,” he agreed. Considering fighters generally didn’t  _ talk back _ to you while you were flying them, it was very different indeed. He knew that most thought that the lions were little more than machines, but he didn’t know quite how to explain their connection. Not wanting to look like a fool, he decided against doing so.

“They all fly different too,” he decided on.

Regris tilted his head to the side as his eyes flashed with interest in the shadow of his hood. “Really?” he asked, sounding surprised. 

“Oh yeah, sure,” Keith said, legs kicking idly back and forth, tapping against the crate he was sitting on. “Red flies a lot faster than the others, so when I first switched over to Black, it took some getting used to.”

Regris hummed softly—although it came out as more of a low hiss in the back of his throat—and Keith heard the spikes of his tail scraping against the wooden crate they sat on as the tip flicked back and forth. It was a slow enough motion that Keith could recognize it as one of intrigue. Antok made the same motions with his tail. 

“I had no idea…” Regris said, leaning to rest his chin against a fist as he smiled easily. “You always seem to know what you’re doing. I watch your formation practices sometimes.”

Keith felt his cheeks redden a little bit, and he hoped that Regris either didn’t notice or realize the significance of it. “How often is sometimes?” he asked before he could stop himself—and internally cursed when his voice rose an octave.

“I climb up onto the hangar roofs whenever you are flying, and I’m not bogged down by busywork,” Regris explained. Before Keith could ask  _ how _ he managed to get up on top of the hangers, Regris moved his  tail into his view. “Having a tail helps, and I got a lot of practice when I was a cub.”

Keith nodded in understanding, even though he felt that watching the lions from the ground didn’t actually lend much to the experience of flying one—or rather, being in one as it was flown. He knew that several Blades had been in the cargo holds before, but Regris had never even done that much.

“Have you ever wanted to get in one?” Keith asked.

When Regris shook his head, Keith tried not to show his disappointment. “Up until a couple of rotations ago, I had assumed Voltron was just a cub’s tale… besides, I hear the cargo holds aren’t that comfortable to be in when a lion is flying.”

Keith opened his mouth and then just as quickly shut it, trying to figure out how he could properly word his suggestion. “I—I was offering—” he cut off. “I just meant… I could take you for a ride in Black… in the cockpit, if you wanted.”

Regris’s reaction was not what he was expecting—he seemed to be at a loss for words, but there was an excited sparkle in his eye at the suggestion that he could go in one of the lions. However, even as he opened his mouth, the com on his belt beeped twice. Immediately, Regris’s mood deflated and with a sigh, he hopped off the crate, his mask appearing over his face.

“That’ll be Kolivan…” Regris said, voice already augmented by his mask. “Some other time perhaps… I’ll see you later, Keith."

Keith shoulders sagged, but he bid Regris farewell nonetheless.


	2. Chapter 2

Trying to find an opening in his schedule that would work for both himself and Regris was difficult. Keith figured he needed maybe an hour to give Regris the full experience of riding in one of the Lions—while they could’ve gotten away with a quick flyby, maybe fifteen minutes tops, Keith wanted to show Regris more than that.

He wanted to impress Regris, although he tried not to dwell on  _ why _ . Over the last week, he had desperately been trying to convince himself that they were just  _ friends _ —that he enjoyed being in Regris’s company, and nothing more. Since he remembered Regris talking about watching him and the other Paladins fly their lions, he just wanted to share the experience with his friend.

It had absolutely nothing to do with having a crush on Regris. None whatsoever.

During his planning, Keith eventually ended up coming to the conclusion that the best course of action was sneaking out at night. Since neither he nor Regris had any night shifts, it was the perfect time for them to try and get to the Black Lion for a midnight joyride. Assuming they didn’t run into any other Blades, it would go off without a hitch.

That night, he managed to get out of the castle easily enough, but took care when navigating the Blade of Marmora’s makeshift base of operations. Most of the Blades were asleep at this hour, with only a young communications officer on duty to keep track of incoming transmissions from the main base and other outlying ones. Their focus was so firmly fixed on their work that they didn’t notice Keith slip past as quietly as he could. 

Finding Regris in the bunkhouse proved to be a little more difficult—while there weren’t many Blades stationed on Olkarion, the room was shrouded in near pitch black, and it was difficult to pick them out. Poking his head into the room, Keith could easily hear Antok’s unbearably loud snoring. He seemed to be on the bunk closest to the door, sprawled out with his tail tip twitching against the floor. A second, smaller Galra was curled up with their back to the door, between Antok and the wall. It took Keith a moment to recognize the Galra was Myrek.

Taking a deep breath, Keith carefully stepped over Antok’s tail, not wanting to accidentally wake either of them up. Slowly, he made his way around the room, checking each bunk for any signs of Regris. He found the bunk that must have been Kolivan’s, judging by how meticulously it was made, although it didn’t appear as though it had been slept in yet tonight. Nearby, Ulaz and Thace had shoved themselves into another bunk. Thace had curled up against Ulaz’s side, with his head nudged beneath Ulaz’s chin. Both were purring deeply and sound asleep, oblivious to Keith’s presence.

Then, Keith accidentally stubbed his toe, and he let out a sharp hiss before he could stop himself. Immediately, he bit his tongue, trying to keep from letting out a shout. He glanced around the room, to make sure he hadn’t accidently woken anybody up. Antok and Myrek were still sound asleep. Thace’s ears twitched, and he mumbled softly in his sleep, but Ulaz tightened his grip around Thace’s shoulders and he stilled again. Keith breathed out a sigh of relief before slinking past several empty bunks, looking for Regris.

He worried for a moment that he had misread the schedule, but then he saw Regris’s tail hanging down from a nearby bunk. Carefully, Keith half-climbed up, finding that Regris was sound asleep with his face half-buried beneath his arm.

“Regris…” Keith whispered, nudging Regris’s arm.

“Mm…” Regris mumbled. He opened one of his eyes, and it flashed in the dark as he checked who had woken him up. When he saw it was Keith, he lifted his head and yawned wide. “What is it, Keith?” he asked sleepily. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“No,” Keith said, shaking his head. “I… I thought maybe you’d want to sneak out.”

Regris tilted his head, looking surprised by the suggestion, but then his ears twitched in amusement. “Is Kolivan around?”

“His bunk’s empty,” Keith whispered. “Probably out doing rounds or something."

Glancing around the room, as if he were checking that everyone else was still asleep, Regris hummed softly. “Well… what did you have in mind?”

“You know how you said you were interested in going in a lion?” Keith asked, grinning at Regris. “I figured we could take a midnight joyride in Black.”

Regris visibly perked up at that. “Really?”

Keith nodded. “Really, really.”

“Okay, let’s go,” Regris said, slipping down from his bunk. “Before Kolivan gets back.”

Slowly, they made their way out of the bunk room, taking care not to make too much noise. Regris even remembered to keep his tail off the ground for once. By the time they got to the Black Lion, the moon had risen to its height. Nobody had seen them crossing the base, ducking behind hangars and storage areas in order to keep from being spotted.

“It’s bigger than I thought…” Regris said, craning his head back to look at the lion sitting in front of them. Black’s eyes flashed, and while she couldn’t speak audibly, Keith could hear her purring in the back of his mind.

_ Who? _ she asked, and although she didn’t physically tilt her head, Keith could still feel her doing it.

_ Regris _ , he responded, not bothering to elaborate. He still didn’t know to define what he felt for Regris other than that they were friends. Having only been introduced to the concept of soulmates a couple of months ago, Keith wasn’t sure if it was even  _ okay _ to have feelings for someone who wasn’t your soulmate. Surely such a thing would be considered taboo…

As if she had sensed his thoughts, Keith heard Black let out an amused purr in the back of his mind. Perhaps she had realized the situation—he still wasn’t sure if the lions could actually read thoughts or not.

“So… how do we get inside?” Regris asked curiously. “Is there a door?”

As if to answer his question, Black dipped her head and opened her mouth. the motion startled Regris, and he let out a soft, surprised-sounding hiss as he ducked behind Keith. Lightly, he rested his hands on Keith’s shoulders. Whatever anxiety Keith had previously held was replaced by amusement, as he couldn’t help laughing at Regris’s reaction.

“She’s not going to hurt you,” Keith promised, glancing over his shoulder. “Go ahead… you can touch her.”

Regris still looked skeptical, ears drawing back beneath his hood, but he nodded. Slowly stepping forward, as if he were approaching a wild animal,  he raised his hand to lightly rest it against Black’s nose. His tail tip twitched back and forth excitedly as a smile broke out on his features. His shoulders visibly relaxed as a soft laugh left him.

“See?” Keith asked teasingly, coming to stand beside Regris. “Not so scary.”

Regris seemed to be only half paying attention, positively giddy to be touching one of the Voltron Lions.

“Keith! Regris!”

At the sound of Kolivan’s voice, both Regris and Keith winced. Keith turned to look over his shoulder, already dreading whatever talk Kolivan was going to give them. He didn’t look too happy to see them out this late…

“What do you two think you’re doing?” Kolivan asked, crossing his arms over his chest as leveled them with an unamused look.

“We uh…” Keith started, trying to wrack his brain for some sort of excuse. He hadn’t anticipated being caught. “We were just…”

“Looking at the Lion,” Regris finished. His tail was twitching nervously against the floor of the hanger, and he seemed to be just as embarrassed to have been caught as Keith currently felt.

Kolivan glanced up at Black and sighed heavily. He didn’t seem mad so much as exasperated. “Well, you looked at her,” he said, before motioning to the hangar doors with his ears. “Now, it’s late, and you two need your rest.”

“We’re not cubs, you know…” Regris grumbled, pouting irritably.

“To me, you are. I treat all my officers like my cubs,” Kolivan retorted, reaching out to give them both a nudge in the direction of the door. He gave them both a pointed look when they glanced back at him. “Now, back to bed. Both of you.”

Keith sighed, but nodded and did as Kolivan said. Regris followed a couple of paces behind him, seeming just as disappointed.

“We can try again some other time,” Keith promised, keeping his voice a low whisper. He could still feel Kolivan’s gaze at his back, and he didn’t want him to overhear.

Regris smiled and nodded. “I’d like that.”

—

Missions came and went, and Keith slowly found himself drifting further and further from the Paladins. He felt that public appearances meant as propaganda and rallying cries weren’t as important as getting more information on how to bring the war to the end. So more often than not, he found himself on board one of the Marmoran shuttles, destined for far off outposts on information gathering missions. For today’s mission, he was accompanying both Regris and Kolivan to an outpost that had been importing large amounts of quintessence.

Keith had seen a lot of things since coming out into space, and an outpost hidden beneath the surface of the water was now one of those. The lions certainly would have been able to detect it, but not before they had been spotted. He wondered how the Imperial cruisers would even get inside—perhaps they were of a special make? The ship that he had come in on with Kolivan had been specially designed to handle the pressure of the water.

“They must be trying really hard to hide whatever is here,” Regris whispered as they followed Kolivan through the base, towards one of the hangers where they were going to be awaiting the latest shipment.

“It must be  _ really _ special quintessence,” Keith whispered back.

“Hush, both of you,” Kolivan cut in, not even glancing over his shoulder as he leaned out of the ledge they had perched themselves on. Keith just barely heard the whirring of the apertures in Kolivan’s mask as he zoomed in on some of the soldiers that were milling around down below. “This is a very important mission,” he continued tersely. “It is  _ not _ a sleepover.”

Keith felt his cheeks burning in embarrassment as he settled back, crouching on Kolivan’s right while Regris took his left. When Keith stole a glance at Regris, he shrugged apologetically and turned his gaze onto the hanger below. There was nothing they could really do right now except wait for Kolivan to give them a signal.

Then, there was a heavy splash up above them, as if something large had entered the water outside the outpost—both Keith and Regris glanced up at the roof, and it seemed like the entire structure was shaking. Then, from the depths, the cruiser rose. Water cascaded from its side, and Keith focused on the ripples left in the cruiser’s wake. His head turned when multiple soldiers and sentries started moving around the hanger in order to prepare for whatever shipment had come in. When they started taking the quintessence off of the ship by the container-full, Kolivan finally gave orders.

“ _ Do not engage _ .”

It was an easy enough order to follow. Keith liked to believe he had been getting better about following those. As he and Regris turned to leave, they parted ways. Regris gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze beforehand, though.

Slowly, Keith made his way through the facility, trying to relay on his hearing more than he would have if he had had backup. He made sure to stop at all the corners and peer around them before darting across halls—just in case a sentry patrol was walking past. With the amount of quintessence that was stored in this place, there was sure to be heightened security. He had memorized the floor plan of the facility prior to this mission, although the plan the Blade had was incomplete, with several sizable chunks missing from it. While he got turned around a couple of times, Keith managed to make it to the store room that he had been instructed to search. Especially the manifests, which would be delivered back to the Coalition. 

He wasn’t entirely sure what Regris was doing. They hadn’t been allowed to discuss it, just in case one of them was captured.Still, Keith had faith in Regris’s abilities. He tried not to think on it too much as he pulled up one of the manifests and started going through it.

“ _ I’ve never seen this much quintessence _ …” Kolivan’s voice came over the comlink, startling Keith and causing him to jump—it was rare for Kolivan to speak during missions unless it was to relay an order. Regris didn’t respond, however. He must have been very engrossed in his own mission.

Keith was about to respond, to ask what Kolivan was talking about, when he heard a sudden blast. Quickly he ducked, dodging blaster fire that had been directed straight at him. His heart leapt into his throat as his breath quickened, and he drew his blade and ran for the trio of sentries that had noticed him. Vaguely, over the sound of more shots, he heard Kolivan stating that the mission had been compromised—that they were to evacuate  _ immediately _ —but Keith was a little preoccupied taking down the sentries to respond.

Regris didn’t respond either.

Keith thought nothing of it, at first. But by the time he got back to the shuttle, and had seen that only Kolivan had made it back, dread settled in the pit of his stomach, heavy like a stone.

“Where’s Regris?” Keith managed to ask, voice near to breaking as he looked over his shoulder, hoping that Regris would turn the corner.

“He has thirty ticks,” Kolivan said. He was also watching the door.

Keith wanted to argue—and in the end, he didn’t. Without waiting to see if Kolivan was going to stop him, he turned and ran from the shuttle, not looking back. It didn’t take him long to find Regris, who was stumbling along the—thankfully deserted—corridor as he tried to get back to the ship. There were no sentries in sight, although a singed smell had filled the corridor. Regris’s gaze was downcast as he clutched his shoulder, and Keith could see bright purple blood staining the armor there, as if Regris had taken a blaster shot to the shoulder. He held his blade shakily in his other hand, ready to defend himself if need be.

He seemed to have heard Keith approaching, as he raised his blade, preparing to strike before he realized it was just Keith.

Regris groaned, leaning heavily against the wall beside him. “It’s just you…” he managed to said, panting breathlessly. Then, his head jerked, as he fully realized who was standing in front of him. “Keith—what?” He sounded surprised. His tail was twitching erratically against the floor of the hallway.  “What are you doing here? You have to go!” Then, he voice took on a more desperate undertone, as he pressed a datastick into Keith’s hand. “Take this and go!”

“No, I’m not going to leave you behind,” Keith insisted.  _ Not like this. Not now. _

Before he could argue further, Regris’s legs gave out. Keith darted forward to catch him, and he hefted Regris’s dead weight onto his shoulder, somehow managing to lift him despite their size difference. He struggled, taking a heavy step forward, half-dragging his feet. Just barely, over the blood roaring in his ears, he could hear sentries were approaching their position. Dread clawed at his gut as he managed to break into a run—Kolivan could have already left without them… the shuttle could be gone, and they’d have no way off of this outpost. But at the same time, he knew that it was too much of a risk for Kolivan to linger if there was no sign of them.

Keith understood that, even if he didn’t like it.

The shuttle came into view, and the doors were rapidly closing. With one last burst of energy, Keith surged forward, diving through the doors with Regris in tow. They landed in a pile, sliding across the floor. Keith lay there for a couple of ticks, feeling the jerk of the shuttle as it detached from the dock. He took deep breaths, trying calm himself down.

They were safe. Regris was safe.

After a moment, Keith grunted as he sat up, watching as Kolivan quickly strapped Regris into a nearby seat. Kolivan had already covered his shoulder with a healing implement, which would ensure his wound didn’t get any worse before they could return to Olkarion.

“He he going to be alright?” Keith asked worriedly, pushing himself to his feet.

“He’ll be fine,” Kolivan said—his mask was already down, so Keith had a full view of the scowl on his features. “But  _ you _ broke a direct order.  _ You _ didn’t consider what might have happened to you! This isn’t Voltron, Keith!”

Keith opened his mouth to offer a retort, but found his voice dying in his throat. He  _ knew _ that, but he couldn’t just… he couldn’t. The datastick that Regris had been carrying weighed heavily in his palm, and he held it up. “The information that Regris was collecting was important, right?” he asked.

“It would have been  _ helpful _ , Keith,” Kolivan said, clearly trying to hold back his exasperation. “But you can’t risk ourselves unnecessarily when our numbers are already so low—I do not  _ like _ needlessly losing my men. Is that understood?”

Keith was about to retort, but caught his tongue and merely nodded silently. Kolivan returned the nod, and then turned on his heel and headed back into the cockpit to map their trajectory. As soon as he was gone, Keith settled down at Regris’s side, and let out a heavy sign as he rested his hand on Regris’s shoulder.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The art in this chapter was done by [xblackpaladin.](https://xblackpaladin.tumblr.com/post/176067128135/flying-away-read-the-fic-here-keith-held-out)

Keith dodged underneath a strike that Thace had been aiming at the side of his head. As he ducked, he heard the sound of the blade cutting through the air, and the noise alone made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. When Thace recovered from his swing, Keith was too slow to react, and the wind was forced out of his lungs as he took a hard knee to the gut. Then, with a firm grip on Keith’s forearm, Thace smoothly flipped him over so he landed flat on his ass, with Thace’s blade poised at his throat.

Thace remained there for about half a tick before he rose back to his feet and sheathed his blade on his back. “You hesitated,” he said blandly, crossing his arms over his chest. “I left myself open on purpose—but you either didn’t notice or you didn’t care to take the advantage.” 

Sighing, Keith stared at the ground. When he didn’t respond, Thace’s change in demeanor was immediate as he crouched down at Keith’s side again. “Keith? Did I hit you that hard?” he asked, taking hold of Keith’s chin to turn Keith’s head and check him over for any signs of serious injury. “Do we need to go see—”

“I’m  _ fine _ ,” Keith insisted, shaking his head. He didn’t need to go to the medical bay—Ulaz wasn’t a  _ therapist _ , and he had more important things to do right now. Especially since Keith’s distraction hadn’t been caused by anything other than his own thoughts. The past couple of days since he and Regris had returned from their last disastrous mission, he had been having trouble focusing. Regris still hadn’t woken up—he had lost a lot of blood, apparently. Even though Regris was now stable, Keith couldn’t let go of the worry that had built in the back of his mind.

Thace didn’t look convinced by his answer at all, frowning at him.

“Really, Thace, I’m fine,” Keith repeated.

Thace snorted. “Do I look like a fool?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as his brow furrowed. “I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong.”

Keith hesitated again, unsure of how to ask. Since the mission that had almost cost Regris his life, Keith had been thinking about… well, a lot of things. About his and Regris’s growing friendship, about how they were much closer now that they had gotten to know one another better, about how Keith had  _ risked his life _ to save Regris even though he had gone against protocol. Perhaps Keith had known for a while that he kind of… sort of…  _ liked _ Regris, but he just hadn’t been willing to admit it to himself. He wasn’t even sure if Regris liked him back or not—sure, Regris seemed to enjoy his  _ company _ , but that didn’t mean the same thing as wanting to be his boyfriend.

And there was the added roadblock of Regris not being Keith’s soulmate—or at least, he wasn’t sure if Regris was his soulmate.

Keith sighed heavily, hugging his knees to his chest. “How did… how did you know? About you and Ulaz?”

Thace frowned. “What about me and Ulaz?”

“How did you know he was your soulmate,” Keith said, more bluntly this time.

“Oh,” Thace said, ears perking up. “Well, after we touched, I could see in color, for one thing…” He peered at Keith curiously then, tilting his head to the side. “Can you see color now, or is it still—”

Keith shook his head. “The trees are still gray,” he said, before looking upwards to the branches hanging above them. “What color are they to you?”

“What color do  _ you _ think they are?” Thace asked.

A chill had settled over the city recently—just the day after Keith had returned from the last mission with Kolivan and Regris. The wind had been doing little to help, but the rains had passed a couple of days before they had left. As Keith knew that, he knew the leaves would have started shifting from their usual amber red to a deeper purple color. Keith hoped that one day, he’d be able to see it, but that wouldn’t happen unless he met his soulmate. 

“Purple?” he finally guessed, looking back at Thace.

Thace glanced up at the leaves. “They’re just starting to shift,” he said. Then, he settled back, sitting down next to Keith in the dirt. “Now, why is there such a sudden interest in how I knew Ulaz was my soulmate?”

“I… I’m just curious—” Keith mumbled under his breath.

While Thace didn’t appear to be convinced, he didn’t press the issue. “Well, Ulaz and I didn’t meet until we started training,” he explained. “Ulaz is from a desert planet called Khal, and I was raised on the main base for the most part after my mother died… and  _ allegedly _ , Ulaz had a crush on me for a while, but I was too oblivious to realize it.”

“Allegedly?” Keith asked, trying to hide his grin.

“Yes, because  _ Antok _ never shut up about it,” Thace grumbled as the tips of his ears began twitching in irritation. “Anyway, Ulaz and I went on a training mission together, and long story short, we ended up escaping sentries through the drainage system. I had to pull him out of the water… and my glove was missing.”

Keith tilted his head. “And then what happened?”

“Color just began to fade in…” Thace said, smiling a bit at the memories. “You still haven’t told me why you’re asking about all of this.”

“Because—” Keith cut off, feeling his cheeks burn.

“Is the redness of your face from sickness or embarrassment?” Thace asked.

Shaking his head, Keith managed a laugh. “Embarrassment…” he said. “Regris has asked me that before, too…”

“Oh, I see,” Thace said, ears flicking forward in interest. Then, he smiled knowingly. “So, this is about  _ Regris _ … do you want to talk about it?”

Keith’s blush only got worse as he groaned—but he knew Thace was trying to help. “You have to swear not to tell anyone,” he said, and then, he held up his pinkie. It was a downright childish thing to do, but watching any Galra’s confusion about Earth customs always had a way of cheering him up. And right now, Thace just looked utterly perplexed. Keith couldn’t contain his laughter. “It’s called a pinkie swear.”

“Is it legally binding?” Thace asked curiously.

“Only to little kids,” Keith snorted. “Human children do it to make promises seem more important than they actually are…”

Thace sighed. “I wasn’t going to say anything anyway, but alright… I’ll play along.” He mirrored Keith, who reached out to lock their pinkies together. “Now, tell me what this is about Regris.”

“Is it possible to like someone who isn’t your soulmate?” Keith asked nervously, feeling his heart rate pick up as anxiety gnawed at his chest. He almost didn’t want to hear the answer—he didn’t know if there was some taboo against it, not having been raised Galra and knowing the intricacies of having a soulmate.

“Do you know that he’s not?” Thace asked, ears twitching.

“I… I don’t,” Keith admitted, shaking his head. “And I don’t want to make it awkward by asking to touch him—” As far as he knew, they would only know if they were soulmates by touching exposed skin. Since Keith and Regris had only ever been in their armor around one another…

Thace snorted. “From what I’ve seen, that boy isn’t exactly shy… but I suppose you don’t want to get his hopes up.”

Keith nodded hastily.

Thace was silent for a moment, tapping his chin as he thought. “Well, when he  _ does _ touch you, do you ever feel… different?” he asked. “There’s often a pull.”

“A pull?” Keith repeated, staring at Thace incredulously.

“You feel at ease and calmer whenever you’re touching, but there’s no direct skin contact,” Thace explained. He tilted his head to the side, ears shifting forward in interest. “Have you ever felt that?”

Keith wasn’t sure. He  _ might _ have, but he was often nervous when he was in Regris’s presence , or they were in a high stakes situation. So when Regris touched him, it helped center him, made him feel safer. Was that the same thing? Keith wanted to ask, but he wasn’t sure if Thace would know how to better explain it. So, instead, he just shrugged, feeling tears prick in the corner’s of his eyes. This was beginning to get overwhelming. 

Thace offered a reassuring smile. “It’s alright, you know,” he said, reaching out to rest his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Sometimes, you just don’t meet them… and it’s perfectly fine to seek happiness with someone who makes you happy  _ now _ , rather than letting it go on and missing out. I had a friend when I was younger who never met theirs, and they ended up in a happy relationship with someone else. So, it’s okay.”

“You sure?” Keith asked hesitantly.

“It’s just color,” Thace said, squeezing Keith’s shoulder. “You’re not missing much. It gets pretty mundane after a while.”

Keith sniffed, reaching up to wipe his eyes with the heel of his hand. “Thanks, Thace…”

“You’re welcome…” Thace said as he reached out, lightly ruffling Keith’s hair. “And remember, if you need to talk about it more, I’m here.”

—

It had been almost a week since Regris had been wounded, and Keith still hadn’t been allowed to see him. Ulaz had been very strict about it, due to the severity of his injuries—a torn ligament in his shoulder, in addition to the blaster shot—and the amount of blood he had lost. It was little wonder he had been on his last legs when Keith had found him limping towards the rendezvous point. Keith was glad he had found Regris when he did. 

He had been hoping that Ulaz would eventually decide to be lenient for once and let him into Regris’s room. As far as Keith knew, he wasn’t the only person who had been waiting. Roshar, Regris’s father, had been coming and going, and he had been the only person who was permitted into the room besides Ulaz and Kolivan. Keith had nearly run into him once, but Roshar hadn’t noticed him at the time, too focused on his son to see another Blade walking past him.

Today, Roshar and Thace were standing side by side, staring through the observation window—from what Keith could see, Regris was still sleeping, but the monitor at his bedside showed a steady heartbeat. Thace noticed Keith first, ears flicking in his direction before he turned his head.

“Hello, Keith,” Thace greeted him, motioning for Keith to join them in front of the window, and Keith stopped at his side.

“Keith,” Roshar said, offering a smile. “It’s nice to see you again… how are your injuries?”

Keith shifted his feet awkwardly as guilt settled in his gut. While he knew Roshar wasn’t going to be mad at him, he felt bad because Regris had been injured. On the way over, he had been replaying the events of the mission in his head—if he had moved faster, gotten to Regris quicker, would he have been less hurt?

“I’m fine,” Keith managed, trying to keep the stiffness from his voice. “Just a sprain.”

Roshar sighed in relief. “Good,” he said. “I’m relieved that one of the young Blades made it out of that disastrous mission unscathed…”

“You’re not angry?”  Keith said before he could stop himself.

“Why would I be angry?” Roshar asked, frowning in confusion at the question.

“Because I made it out with a sprained ankle,” Keith started, beginning to feel a little queasy. “And Regris almost died.”

“But he didn’t” Roshar said firmly, shaking his head. “Because  _ you _ save his life. And I am grateful for that. I already lost my bondmate—” As he spoke, he reached up and lightly ran his fingers over the fang that hung from his neck. “I don’t know what I would do if something happened to one of my cubs.”

Keith bowed his head, staring at the floor—after a tick, he felt Thace’s hand press between his shoulder blades. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”

“You did your part,” Roshar insisted. “You’re young. You’ll make a lot of mistakes—Thace can tell you all about the mistakes he made when he was a young Blade…”

“Not all of those were my fault,” Thace retorted, ears flicking in annoyance.

Roshar chuckled, shaking his head fondly. “No, I suppose a great deal of the fault could fall on Ulaz and Antok, couldn’t it?”

They quieted as Ulaz entered the room and began checking Regris’s vitals. The heart monitor was still beating steadily—while it beeped faster than Keith would have expected if it had been a human on the bed, he had noticed that Galra had quicker heartbeats than humans generally did. Then, Regris groaned, rolling over onto his elbow as he started trying to push himself up in bed. Ulaz hurried to his side, and began speaking with him. Regris still appeared to be drowsy, but answered Ulaz’s questions as best as he could, tail tip twitching back and forth uneasily.

Roshar’s toe-claws began clicking against the ground impatiently as he waited for Ulaz to tell him it was okay for him to enter the room and be with his son. Noticing this, Keith lightly nudged Thace to get his attention.

“Should we go?” he whispered.

Thace tilted his head. “You don’t want to see Regris?”

Keith shook his head quickly. “It’s not that, I just don’t want to impose,” he said. “I’ll come back later… after Roshar’s visit is done.”

With a sigh, Thace nodded in understanding. “Come on, then. How about we go for a walk?”

—

It was later in the evening, as the sun was just beginning to set over the horizon, when Keith made his way back to the medical bay. Visiting hours were going to be ending soon, but he hoped that Ulaz would be willing to make an exception for him.

As he approached the room, he saw that Regris was still awake, sitting up in bed and reading a book he hadn’t had earlier. Perhaps Roshar had left it with him. Ulaz was nowhere to be seen, but the door slid open automatically when Keith approached it.

“Regris!” Keith said in relief, hurrying across the room to nearly tackle his friend. He landed squarely in his lap as he wrapped his arms around Regris’s shoulders and hugged him, rubbing their cheeks together and closing his eyes. Regris returned the gesture after a moment as a soft, hissing purr left his throat.

Then, Keith opened his eyes.

The walls were  _ changing _ . Where gray had been, pale and sterile against the back of the room, a new tone was fading into his vision. A tone? No… it was a  _ color _ . Keith’s heart stuttered in his chest, and he tried to force himself to breath as he stiffened entirely in Regris’s arms.

It had happened just like Thace said it would… 

“Keith?” Regris started—and there was the softest intake of breath as color must have started to fade into his vision.

For a long moment, neither one was willing to move as they tried to process what was happening. Keith could feel his heart beating erratically in his chest, threatening to leap into his throat. As he looked over Regris now, he found that Regris’s skin was blue as well—darker in color than the walls, with a more vibrant undertone. Up this close, Keith could clearly see the mottled patterning that ran across his cheeks, and the faint lines that marked the differences in scales on Regris’s skin. His eyes were… yellow, maybe? Keith remembered Ulaz had said that was the colour of Galra eyes. Regris’s expression had shifted to one of shock, and Keith’s own eyes widened.

This was too much. It felt like the walls of the medical bay were closing in on him. He had to leave—find some quiet place, fresh air—just to clear his head a little bit.

“Keith—” Regris started again, but Keith was already squirming to get free. And Regris let him go. “Keith?” he tried again as Keith backed away from him, towards the door.

He didn’t look back as he dashed from the room, and the door slammed shut behind him.

—

Keith avoided the medical bay for days afterward. Shame had settled in his gut, and he couldn’t help but think about how he could have handled the situation so much better than he had. He should’ve stayed,  _ talked _ to Regris about the shock of it all. They were supposed to be friends, weren’t they? Even if they were soulmates that didn’t automatically mean that their friendship had die in flames because of  _ how _ they found out they were soulmates.

Would they still be friends now, or was Regris going to be angry with him for running off?

Keith wasn’t even sure if Regris had been discharged from the medical bay yet, and he hadn’t gone back to the Paladins to tell them what had happened. They still seemed to be angry with him over how he had been spending more and more time with the Blades. He had returned recently from a supply mission with Kolivan, and he had never felt more cut off from them before than when he followed after Kolivan instead of staying to help them. They wouldn’t have understood anyway. So, for the last few days, Keith had mostly stayed by himself, hiding out amongst the trees at the edge of the capital city.

Mostly, he had spent his time looking over the colors that now surrounded him.

The sky on Olkarion was always orange, dotted with small white clouds. He had asked Thace to teach him some of the colors he didn’t already know. The shade and hue of the sky depended entirely on the time of day—seeing as he spent most of the day hiding on his own, Keith had gotten a good view of all of them. Today, though, he was mostly watching the clouds. Before all of… this, he had known the clouds were there, but he hadn’t really gotten a good look at them. They had blended in too much with the rest of the sky, making it difficult to discern their shapes. He had never really understood the concept of cloud watching until now.

Today, he was sitting on a branch, high above the forest floor, just watching the clouds drift by. This was the fourth or fifth branch he had camped out on over the last couple of days. Pidge or Thace always managed to find him, and so, he frequently moved his hiding spots so he could avoid any prying questions.

“Keith!”

He jumped at the sound of his name, nearly tumbling out of the branch he was sitting on. The bark dug into his skin, but he quickly bit his tongue to avoid crying out. Peering down at the the forest floor, he spotted Shiro and Ulaz walking along the trail. Neither of them appeared to have spotted him. Still, Keith pressed his back against the trunk of the tree and tried not to make a sound.

“Keith?” Ulaz tried, cupping his hands around his mouth.

“You said you hadn’t see him in a couple of days?” Shiro said as he looked up towards the canopy.

“He hasn’t come to the medical bay, no,” Ulaz said, peering up into the branches before he scented the air, opening his mouth and sticking out his tongue, much like a cat would. His gaze snapped to where Keith was sitting, but while his eyes narrowed, he didn’t point out where Keith was to Shiro.

“Thace found him out here yesterday, after his shift…” Ulaz continued, ears twitching as he tilted his head to the side, realizing he had actually found the person they were looking for. When Keith quickly shook his head, however, his gaze moved away. Shiro remained oblivious to Keith’s presence. “He didn’t tell me what they talked about,” Ulaz said, already starting down the trail. “Said it was confidential.”

Keith shoulders sagged in relief as Shiro followed after Ulaz. Sinking back against the trunk, he hugged his knees to his chest. It was true that Thace hadn’t pushed him to talk about anything, only telling Keith that he should come down because everyone was worried about him.

As Shiro and Ulaz disappeared down the trail, Keith caught one final exchange. 

“That Regris guy has been looking for him… wouldn’t say why, though,” Shiro said.

“Keith and Regris are friends,” Ulaz responded. “I imagine Regris is just concerned about his well being.”

Was he, though? Keith had been actively avoiding Regris since he had run away from him—surely Regris was just looking for him so that he could tell Keith that he was done with him. Multiple times over the past couple of days, Keith had debated going back to the medical bay to apologize, since he did feel bad about leaving Regris hanging like that. But every single time he considered that option, his anxiety over the situation ended up winning out.

Somewhere nearby, further up the trail that led back to the capital city, Keith heard someone walking along. Twigs cracked under their feet as they continued on their way. However, Keith didn’t look down to see who it was.

“Keith?”

At the sound of Regris’s voice, Keith’s gaze snapped to the forest floor and  his heart leapt into his throat. Regris was staring directly at him, ears perked. He looked almost  _ hopeful _ as he tilted his head to the side.

“Regris,” Keith greeted him, voice shaking. “How—how did you know where I was?”

“Lieutenant Thace told me you were hiding out in the forest,” Regris explained. Then, he motioned to the tree trunk with his tail. “Can… can I come up? Or would you rather I stay down here?”

Keith quickly shook his head. “No,” he said. “No, it’s okay… you can come up, if you want…”

Regris seemed relieved to hear that. He easily scaled the tree, sinking his claws into the bark and using his tail to grip branches for leverage as he passed, until he was on the branch beneath Keith’s. For a moment, he crouched there in silence, as if he was unsure of what to say. His tail tip twitched nervously against the branch he was perched on, spikes scraping against the bark. “Are you alright?” he finally asked. “I’ve been really worried, you know.”

Keith blinked a couple of times in surprise. “You… you were worried?”

“Of course,” Regris said, looking confused. “You just  _ left _ , and I thought maybe I had done something to offend you—”

“No!” Keith said quickly, shaking his head. “Nothing like that!”

“Then what’s wrong?” Regris pressed, ears pinning back.

“I was just… I was shocked, and so I panicked…” he explained quietly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I had been so focused on how I might have liked someone who wasn’t my soulmate that I hadn’t even considered the possibility that my soulmate was the person I liked the entire time…”

“You like me?” Regris asked teasingly.

“Ugh,  _ yes _ ,” Keith groaned. “And so, I talked to Thace about it, and he said that it wasn’t that big of a deal—”

“Because it’s not,” Regris put in.

“I was going to tell you when you woke up,” Keith finally finished, gaze dropping to his lap. “But then it turns out that we  _ are _ soulmates anyway, so…” He sighed heavily, shoulders deflating. His face had turned bright red in embarrassment. “I could’ve handled this so much better…”

“Okay, first,” Regris said, carefully clambering up onto the branch that Keith was sitting on. “Is the redness of your face due to embarrassment or sickness?”

Keith burst into laughter before he could stop himself.

Regris let out a soft, hissing purr. “I’ll take that as a sign you’re  _ not _ sick,” he said as he settled back on the branch, carefully wrapping his tail around it in order to anchor himself. “How about next time you feel overwhelmed, we just talk about, alright?”

Keith wiped a couple of tears that had escaped away, still smiling as he nodded.

“Good,” Regris said cheerfully. “Because I really like you… and now my papa can finally get off my back about asking you on a date.”

Keith snorted. “Seriously?”

Regris looked a little mortified, shoulders sagging. “Just be glad he’s not asking when the bonding ceremony is,” he sighed. “Anyway, can we start over and pretend  _ this _ is when we discovered we were soulmates?” He looked at their surroundings, eyes widening at the sight of the purple foliage, as if this were the first time he had ever been in the forest. Then, his gaze moved up to the sky, which had rapidly been shifting to more overt reds. “Beautiful sunset, don’t you think?”

“They’re  _ much _ prettier when the sun gets lower,” Keith said as his smile shifted into a full blown grin. “When everything is just silhouettes and the sky has gone reddish purple…”

Regris’ ears perked excitedly at the description. “I haven’t seen one of those yet!” he said, scooting closer to Keith. “How much longer until that happens?” he asked, leaning against Keith’s side.

“Another hour—” Keith paused, at Regris’ confused look at the term, and then reiterated. “Same thing as a varga. Until then, we can cloud gaze if you want…”

“What’s cloud gazing?” Regris asked.

Keith looked up at the clouds and pointed on out. “See that one there. It looks like a bunny.”

Regris nodded in understanding and then added, “What’s a bunny?”

Keith couldn’t help his laughter.


	4. Chapter 4

Keith was worried when the next mission arrived—about Regris, mostly. He wasn’t sure if Regris should really be out in the field again so soon, but Ulaz had cleared him for missions, and Regris was insisting that he was well enough to help. Keith didn’t really have it in him to argue when he knew that Regris didn’t like sitting around the Coalition base all day with nothing to do. There was a war still going on, and Regris just wanted to do his part to help end it.

Their mission was to investigate a ship that was supposedly linked to quintessence shipments. Kolivan had noticed it while going through some of the manifests they had collected on previous missions. While Keith was wary, he trusted that the Blade of Marmora had looked into it. And he trusted that Kolivan’s information was good. The Blade of Marmora couldn’t afford to let anything slip under their radar, so they made use of all the information that was available to them.

Keith only wished that Shiro had been able to understand that—understand  _ why _ Keith had been drifting away. He had yet to tell any of the Paladins that he had found his soulmate. Since humans didn’t  _ have _ them, he had thought that they wouldn’t understand, or would think that he was using it as an excuse to choose sides. Splitting his time between the Paladins and the Blade of Marmora was beginning to take its toll on him, and he wasn’t entirely sure what to do. He knew that his friends had noticed his change in demeanor, but they hadn’t asked him about it—at least, not in detail. Regris seemed to be able to tell something was up too, but he hadn’t pried—not intentionally. Instead, he just… talked. The entire ride to the site of their next mission, he and Regris had talked. No questions, just talking. 

Keith fell asleep at some point during the journey, only awakening when he heard Regris’s hissing purr in his ear, felt something flick against the tip of his nose. He cracked one eye open to find the tip of Regris’s tail in his face. Grumbling, he settled back down, burying his face in the side of Regris’s neck. If they had been anywhere else, he might’ve managed to go back to sleep. But then, the shuttle gave a sharp jerk as they must have exited hyperspace, and he knew that any hope of getting more sleep had been lost.

“Keith, come on,” Regris said softly. “You have to get up…”

He grumbled again, but he didn’t argue further. Instead, he stretched, cracking his back before he stood and started adjusting his armor, preparing to disembark. Kolivan didn’t announce anything over the com, not that Keith had been expecting him to. There wasn’t a need to, given they had already received their briefings before they had left Olkarion.

Gather information. Stay out of sight.

When Kolivan initially scanned the ship, he was surprised to find that it was devoid of heat signatures, and he warned both Keith and Regris to be careful. In Keith’s experience, lack of heat signatures generally meant a reliance on sentries. But it was also highly unusual if this ship was meant to be carrying important information or cargo. There would be at least a small staff on board—scientists and their guards. While Keith was prepared to voice his concerns, he was cut off by Kolivan, who said that they were to search the ship and try to figure out what was amiss.

Now, Keith slowly made his way through winding corridors, making sure to check every room he passed—first with heat sensors, to see if the room was devoid of living beings, and then by opening the door to actually look inside for anything important. So far, he hadn’t found anything, and he was almost done with the portion of the ship that Kolivan had asked him search. Restlessly he fiddled with the hilt of his blade, feeling anxiousness well up in his chest. Unlike the last mission, where there had been sentries patrolling every corridor, this ship was too quiet… too still.

He had a bad feeling about this…

While he longed to reach out to Regris over the coms—just to hear his voice—Keith knew that doing that might compromise them. Kolivan was much more strict about that than anything else, aside from the mission being paramount to everything. They had already decided to meet at the far end of the ship, after all of their sectors had been checked. As he neared the end of his, Keith took a deep breath, and tried to steady his shoulders—put on a brave face, as it were. Kolivan emerged from his sector about a tick after Keith appeared, looking around, as if he were confused as to how he had gotten to the end and found nothing. Regris appeared looking exactly the same.

“There’s nothing here,” Regris said. “What should we do, sir?”

“Find the bridge,” Kolivan said, already starting in that direction. “If there’s any way we’re going to find out what’s going on, we’ll find it there.”

Regris lingered, even as Kolivan passed by him to continue down the corridor. He was gazing in Keith’s direction, with the slightest tilt of his head, as if he were going to ask if Keith was alright. Keith shook his head, but accepted a forehead bump when Regris leaned down to offer one. It was enough for Keith’s shoulders to actually relax, and he turned and followed after Kolivan, keeping a couple of paces behind and watching their surroundings with his blade at the ready. Behind him, he heard Regris’s tail brushing against the ground and Kolivan’s footsteps in front of him.

As they made their way further into the ship, dread began building in Keith’s stomach. The entire ship was deserted, it seemed—there wasn’t any signs of  _ living _ anywhere. Only dust, and the creaking of the ship’s hull.

“Isn’t it a little weird that we haven’t seen any sentries?” Regris whispered, leaning down so he was at Keith’s ear. He sounded more than a little nervous, and his tail tip was beginning to brush against the floor  anxiously.

“It is,” Kolivan confirmed, sounding concerned. “The bridge is just up ahead. Blades at the ready.”

Regris and Keith exchange a glance before they followed Kolivan, flanking him on either side, prepared to strike if anyone were on the bridge. However, when the door opened, there was no one.

Keith’s eyes widened as he took a couple of steps into the room, looking around for anything that might give them a clue as to what was going on. Regris brushed past him, darting across the room in order to pull up the holoscreen at the end of the room.  There wasn’t any precedent for something like this. Why had the Empire just left this ship abandoned, and why had it showed up in manifests? This was a frequently traveled supply line, there weren’t any bodies, there were any sentries, there didn’t appear to be  _ any _ cargo to speak of… the Empire didn’t just…  _ leave _ ships abandoned, floating in space.

Emergency lights suddenly flared to life, and a heavy weight settled in Keith’s gut, anxiety swelling in his chest as he began to fight to breathe. A countdown had come up on the console’s holoscreen.

“It’s a trap!” Keith said, whirling to see the doors beginning to close behind them. He and Kolivan rushed forward to keep them from locking and trapping them on the bridge. Regris stayed where he was, rapidly typing as if he were trying to disarm the bomb—but he was fighting a losing battle. Keith watched in growing horror as the time continued to tick away steadily. If they didn’t try to run, there wasn’t going to be any hope of  escaping with their lives.

“Regris—” Keith began.

“Just a few more ticks,” Regris said over his shoulder, before he turned back to his typing. His tail tip was lashing against the ground, betraying his anxiety.

Keith turned, releasing his hold on the door as he made to go and grab Regris, drag him away from the console so they could escape.  _ There wasn’t enough time _ —but then he felt Kolivan grab him by the back of his chestplate, hoisting him off the ground and taking off down the hall.

“Kolivan! Put me down!” Keith snapped, struggling to get free. He couldn’t just  _ leave _ Regris behind. “No!”

The countdown seemed to slow as it got closer to zero.

Then, there was a flash of bright light, and the explosion forced all the air out Keith’s lungs, and the world went dark.

—

Keith didn’t know how long he had been out—it could have been a couple of ticks, it could’ve been a dobosh, or a varga. The ships was in pieces, completely obliterated by the explosion, and he had been left clinging to a piece of the wreckage as he tried to get his bearings. Keith took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm himself as he began shaking. Desperately, he looked for any signs of Kolivan or Regris, just so he would know they were alright, but there was nothing.

And his world had gone gray again.

He had already been on the verge of tears because of the ache in his bones, and the shock setting into his system, realizing that he had lost color again pushed him past the edge. Tears rolled freely down his cheeks, his breathing became shaky, and he struggled to keep hold on the nearest piece of debris as he looked around the debris field.

_ No, no, no,  _ please _ , no _ …

He tried to force his tears away—this wasn’t the place or the time for. He tried to tell himself that he’d have time to mourn later, assuming Kolivan didn’t leave  _ without _ him because he thought Keith had died too. Had  _ Kolivan _ even survived the blast? Keith tried to reach out with him com, but the explosion appeared to fried the comlink in his mask. Keith’s gaze moved across the debris field, trying to find some kind of sign that Kolivan was alive, that their ship was still intact.

Then, he caught a flash of purple, and he took a shaky breath.

“Regris…” Keith whispered, feeling his heart leap into his throat. Regris must have survived— _ barely _ —and was still holding on. Quickly, Keith pulled up a scanner, looking over the debris field for heat signatures. With a complete lack of other bodies, it should have been easy enough to find  _ one _ . Keith pushed off from one piece of debris from the ship’s hull and flew across the gap, clinging to the next one. The debris field was massive, and it would take time to cover all of it, but Keith didn’t have that time.

There, there was a blip on his radar.

Keith immediately diverted course, heading in the direction of the signature. His blood was roaring in his ears as he pushed off of one piece of debris to try and reach another one. Carefully, he made his way through the debris field, trying to time his jumps so he didn’t get thrown off course. Relief flowed through him as he found Regris, pressed up against a piece of debris, floating lifelessly. For a tick, Keith was worried he had been too late, but then he spotted the slight rise and fall of Regris’s chest. Still, even though he was still alive, he was still in pretty rough shape. It looked like one of his arms was completely useless, bent at an odd angle and most definitely broken—it was the arm that had previously been shot. Large chunks of his armor appeared to have been badly burned as well. 

Keith was careful as he grabbed Regris, hoisting him over his shoulder and holding him there to the best of his ability. He heard Regris let out a soft groan through the comlinks in their masks, but he was still clearly unconscious. Then, he looked around the debris field, frantically trying to spot the shuttle. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do—Regris needed  _ help _ , and Keith needed to find Kolivan, and they had to get back to Olkarion, and—

Taking a deep breath, Keith tried to steady his nerves, even though his hands were shaking as he clung to the debris. He scanned the debris field more slowly, and, to his relief, spotted the shuttle at the edge of it. Slowly, he began making his way towards it, pushing off of smaller pieces of debris and trying to savor what power was left in his jetpack, stopping when necessary to adjust how Regris sat on his shoulders.

He managed to get in through the doors as they closed behind him, and he and Regris tumbled to the floor. With a groan, Keith pushed himself up and ripped his mask off, struggling to breathe as his adrenaline wore off completely. He nearly collapsed onto the floor beside Regris, barely managing to hold himself upright. With shaking hands, he managed to pry Regris’s mask off, and Regris gasped for breath as fresh air reached his lungs.

The only other noise that managed to escape his throat was soft groaning. He must have been in a lot of pain.

“Shh… shh, it’s okay…” Keith whispered, running his fingers across Regris’s cheeks, just below his eyes. “You’re going to be fine… once we get you back to Olkarion, you’re going to be fine…”

The was a hiss behind him as the door to the cockpit opened, and Kolivan hurried out. His mask immediately disappeared as he knelt beside Regris, checking his pulse.

“We need to get back to Olkarion,” Kolivan said urgently. “There’s a first aid kit on the wall over there—just—just do whatever Ulaz taught you to do. I’ll be up front. Do  _ not _ leave his side. I am not going to lose a Blade today.”

Then, Kolivan was gone, leaving Keith and Regris behind. Without another word, Keith hurried over to the wall, grabbed the first aid kit and set to work trying to make sure Regris was comfortable.

—

Returning to Olkarion seemed to take a lifetime.

The entire trip, Keith wanted to go and ask Kolivan how much longer it would be, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave Regris alone. As they rushed back to Olkarion, Regris’s breathing was quick and ragged, and he seemed to be in too much pain to awaken. It reminded Keith of when Ulaz had lost his arm and leg in what should have been a heroic sacrifice for Voltron. While Regris had survived the explosion, Keith wasn’t sure if his arm could be saved. If they could only get Regris to Ulaz faster. So, Keith tried to keep his breathing even as he sat on the floor beside Regris, holding Regris’s head gently in his lap. He lightly ran his hand over the top of Regris’s head, and even though his breathing was labored, Keith swore that he could hear the faintest hissing purr leaving Regris’s throat.

The shuttle gave a jerk as they exited hyperspace, and Keith finally looked away from Regris’s face, glancing around the cabin. The colors around him had stabilized—while there were still heavy gray overtones, he could pick out a couple of lingering colors. The blue of Regris’s scales, the dark purple lights that were overhead… that was a good sign, and enough to still his rapidly beating heart. He could hear Kolivan talking to someone in the cockpit, and he assumed that he had called ahead to make sure that Ulaz was ready to take Regris immediately after they had landed.

When the shuttle touched down on the surface of the planet, Keith remained sitting. As he waited for the door to open, he continued lightly stroking the top of Regris’s head, keeping silent as he listened to Regris’s breathing. He didn’t move until Ulaz rushed into the shuttle and told him to get out of the way.

Keith retreated to the nearest wall and he watched as Regris was taken away.

—

Keith didn’t seek out the other Paladins, even though he knew that they must have been extremely angry with him. He had missed an important mission because of his duty to the Blade. But he couldn’t abandoned Regris—not  _ now _ . Without him, Regris wouldn’t have survived at all. He didn’t know if Kolivan would have even known that Regris was still alive, given how low his vitals had been at the time. So, Keith stuck to the medical bay, sitting at Regris’s bedside after Ulaz had finished with him. It seemed like he could’ve used the company anyway. Roshar had been on another mission, and he wouldn’t be returning for at least another couple of days. Without Keith there, the only company Regris would have had was Ulaz or one of the medical assistants.

Regris had come out of surgery missing one of his arms from the shoulder down, and one his legs from the knee down. Both had been too badly damaged by the blast for Ulaz to do much of anything for them. Ulaz had also mentioned briefly that Regris had taken substantial nerve damage in his tail, and would likely require physical therapy when he awoke and regained some of his strength.

But at least he was  _ alive _ . That was all Keith could’ve hoped for. Following Regris’s surgeries, Keith noticed that much of the color he had previously lost in his vision had slowly begun to trickle back in. He first noticed it through the windows of the examination room when he saw how the leaves had deepened in color, so they matched Thace’s fur color more closely. Just seeing the leaves had been enough to bring an easy smile to his lips.

Today, Keith hadn’t left Regris’s side at all. He lightly held Regris’s hand in one of his own, stroking the back with his thumb. Regris’s fingers gave the slightest twitch in his sleep, but he didn’t appear to be aware enough to respond. Still, the motion was enough to draw a soft putt from the back of Regris’s throat, and Keith returned the purr with a hum as he leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes.

Before he could drift off, however, he heard the door to the room open with a faint  _ whoosh _ . He half-expected it to be Ulaz, bringing some food since he would’ve known that Keith hadn’t eaten anything yet today, but instead, he heard faint whispers from outside in the hallway.

“ _ Go _ , I think he’d like to talk to you two—” 

“He hasn’t talked to any of us in three days.”

Keith recognized Thace’s voice first, and then Pidge’s. A heavy sigh followed, belonging to a third person, who Keith assumed was probably Shiro. He still didn’t moved, though, even as dread began to built in the pit of his stomach. Maybe if he pretended to be asleep, they’d leave him alone. But no…  _ no _ , he needed to talk to them, and he knew it. Just because it was the easy way out didn’t mean it was the right way out.

“ _ Go _ ,” Thace hissed more insistently. He must have given both of them a good shove, since Pidge let out a surprised yelp and Shiro muttered something about how they were going.

Keith turned his head as they approached, but his voice caught in his throat. His grip on Regris’s hand tightened as he tried to focus on the slight twitch of Regris’s fingers, or the soft brush of his tail against the fabric of the sheets.

“Hi,” Pidge started awkwardly, and without any preamble, she held out a plate of food. “Thace said you hadn’t eaten yet today.”

Keith thanked her quietly, reaching out to take the plate from her. The smell of it was enough to make his mouth water. He hadn’t realized how hungry he actually was until now. He released Regris’s hand, keeping it in his lap as he started looking over the food on the plate. It looked like they had managed to find some kind of tuber here on Olkarion—one that  _ definitely _ smelled like mashed potatoes—and a meat that looked suspiciously like chicken.

“Did Hunk make this?” Keith asked, carefully spearing a chunk of the meat onto his fork and taking a bite—even though it  _ looked _ like chicken, it had a much richer taste and seemed to be heavily seasoned. The mashed…  _ stuff _ tasted more like what it looked like when he tried it. While it wasn’t one of the best things he had ever had, it beat the commissary.

“No, Ryner did,” Shiro said, shaking his head. “Hunk wanted to, but he was too busy helping Allura with a diplomatic meeting.”

Keith hummed under his breath as he took another bite.

“How is Regris doing?” Pidge asked hesitantly, creeping around Keith to get a better look.

“He seems to be okay,” Keith said, offering a reassuring smile. “Well, physically. I don’t know how he’s going to react when he wakes up and realizes he…” Trailing off, Keith glanced back at Regris worriedly.

“Well, I can help him with his prosthetics,” Pidge offered.

“I’m sure he’d welcome the help,” Keith said earnestly.

Shiro cleared his throat, trying to draw attention back to the situation at hand. “You know that you missed an important mission, right?” he asked, although he seemed to be trying to keep his voice as even as possible—trying not to sound too judgemental.

“I know that I did,” Keith said, gaze dropping to his plate. He had suddenly lost his appetite. “But I’m glad that I went on the mission with Kolivan and Regris… if—if I hadn’t gone, Regris would likely be dead right now.”

“How do you know that?” Shiro asked curiously.

“Because… my vision went mostly gray, but I saw a speck of color and I just… I  _ knew _ ,” Keith said. “I searched the debris field and found him… I saved his life, I can’t just leave him now.”

Pidge smiled knowingly. “So, he’s your…” she trailed off, making a vague motion with her hand. Keith had explained the concept of soulmates to the rest of the Paladins after he had first found out about it from Kolivan several months ago.

“Yes, Pidge, he’s my soulmate,” Keith admitted. “But that’s not the only reason I want to stay with the Blade on a more permanent basis. I’m doing a lot of good with them, and Shiro’s finally bonded with Black again, and I just…”

“It’s okay, Keith,” Shiro assured him. “I understand completely. And I’m sure the rest of the guys will too.”

“Thank you…” Keith sighed in relief, sinking back into his seat.

“We’ll leave you now,” Shiro said, “But I’m sure the others will come around at some point to wish you luck… we’re leaving on another mission soon. I imagine you will be as well.”

“Once Regris is well enough to walk, then we’ll be going back to the main base so that he can further recover there,” Keith explained. “The Chief Medical Officer is there. He’s apparently the best the Blade of Marmora has…”

“Tell Regris ‘Good Luck’!” Pidge said, before darting forward to tightly hug Keith. Shiro joined in, and Keith allowed himself to smile brightly.

—

Keith remained at Regris’s bedside for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening, still stroking the back of his hand all the while. He had just begun to fall asleep when he heard Regris let out a soft groan. Immediately, Keith sat up, watching anxiously as Regris shifted in his sleep. Then, his eyes opened and he blinked blearily against the harsh light.

“Do you want me to dim the lights?” Keith asked.

“Please,” Regris managed to say.

Keith turned away as Regris started trying to push himself up—but he paused at the soft gasp that Regris let out as he must have realized he was missing two limbs.

“Keith?” Regris said, voice much shakier than it had been just a couple of ticks previously. “What… what’s—”

Keith dimmed the lights quickly and grabbed Regris’s glasses from where they sat near the door before he hurried back to Regris’s side. Carefully, he held the glasses out, but Regris didn’t reach out to take them back. Instead, he was staring at what remained of his shoulder with wide eyes.

“Shh…” Keith soothed, setting Regris’s glasses down. “Regris, hey… look at me.”

Regris’s gaze snapped back to him, brow furrowed in confusion and fear.

“You were caught in an explosion,” Keith said. “Do you not remember?”

“I… I remember the countdown…” Regris mumbled, lightly running his fingers over the compression sock on his shoulder. “I… was I trying to stop it?” He tilted his head to the side, staring at Keith. When Keith nodded, he averted his gaze. “I don’t remember much else other than a bright flash of light… and it was cold…”

“Well, you were out for nearly a week,” Keith said gently, holding out the glasses for him to take again. This time, Regris did, fumbling to put them on with only one hand. “Ulaz says that you’ll be fine… barring some more… drastic injuries.”

“My tail feels numb,” Regris said softly, lifting it into view. He was shaking again, and Keith quickly reached out to put his hand over Regris’s, giving it a squeeze.

“It’s going to be fine,” Keith assured him. “Ulaz said you had some nerve damage, some burn scarring… you’re going to have to go through some physical therapy and gain some of the motion back…. But I’m going to help you, okay? You don’t have to go through this alone.”

Regris frowned at that, sinking back into the pillows. Carefully, he turned his hand over so that he could hold Keith’s hand in his. His hand was still shaking, but he took a couple of deep breaths, as if to try and settle his nerves. “I don’t… I don’t understand,” he said. “Won’t you be busy with Paladin stuff?”

Keith sighed, sitting down heavily in his chair again. “Well, while we were on that mission, Shiro reconnected with the Black Lion.”

Regris’s ears perked in surprise, but almost immediately pinned back again. “So… you’re going back to Red?”

Keith shook his head as he smiled. “No, I decided to stay with the Blade of Marmora… and with you,” he explained. “Kolivan said that once you’re strong enough to travel, we’ll be heading back to the main base. Apparently there’s a medic there who’s better versed in this?”

Regris groaned, sinking entirely into the pillows. “I don’t need Kellun treating me like a helpless cub…”

“Well, don’t worry,” Keith said, squeezing Regris’s hand again for reassurance. “I’m going with you. I’ll be helping with your exercises when I’m not on missions.”

“Thank you…” Regris sighed, “Truly, I appreciate it.”

Silence fell between them—but Keith didn’t really care. He just liked being in Regris’s presence. It was as calming as it had been the first time they met. He was so relieved that Regris had finally woken up.

“How did you know how to look for me?” Regris asked suddenly, not tearing his gaze from the ceiling. “Did you vision not go gray?”

“I thought it had,” Keith confessed. “But I saw the slightest hint of purple, and I knew I had to search the debris field for you… and I’m glad I did.”

“Thank you,” Regris said again, just as sincerely as the first time. “That’s two times you’ve saved my life now.” He managed to crack a smile. “I owe you.”

“Eh, you can pay me back by getting better,” Keith said, scooching the chair closer. “And with nuzzles.”

“Nuzzles, eh?” Regris asked. “That much I can do…”

Keith leaned forward, bumping their foreheads together. Relief flowed through him as a grin appeared on his features. And Regris pressed back against the touch as their noses brushed and a hissing purr rose in his throat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is the one that finally pushed me over 200k written words on Ao3, and I'm so happy to have gotten to that milestone finally XD Anyway, thanks for reading my fic!! If you want to see more of my content or shoot me an ask, feel free to drop by my tumblr. And make sure to check out Arka's as well :3
> 
> My Tumblr: [revasnaslan](http://revasnaslan.tumblr.com/)  
> Arka's Tumblr: [xblackpaladin](https://xblackpaladin.tumblr.com/)


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